Surprise Visitors
by tiberius1
Summary: Set after PKW, Moya encounters a very unexpected visitor and everyone but Aeryn is shocked. What secrets is she keeping?
1. Chapter 1

Surprise Visitors - Chapter 1

Bialar Crais was thrown from his bed by the violent lurch of Starburst. Momentarily confused by abruptness of his awakening, he called out, "Talyn, what's wrong?"

_I've found her! _

Moving to a sitting position on the bed until they emerged from starburst. "Found whom?"

_Moya! We are almost there. _

Crais felt the lurch as they emerged from starburst. He contemplated encountering those on Moya again. While he had grown used to life without them, he found he did miss their companionship. He was not one that made friends easily, and while he did not consider them his friends, they tolerated him more than most.

After they destroyed the command carrier, it had taken Talyn half a cycle to heal and regenerate. That was one of the aspects of Crais' experiment that had not worked as well as planned. It should have taken Talyn much less time to recover from his injuries. Of course, if they had been able to dock a Peacekeeper support facility it probably would have gone more quickly.

_They are comming us, _Talyn announced before piping the audio to Crais' quarters.

"_Crais? Is that you? Are you still alive, you son of a bitch? " _Crichton asked.

Crais rolled his eyes. While the human used a derogatory term, he could hear no malice in the man's voice. Even after spending a half cycle trapped with the human, he still not understand the nuances of the language, and truthfully, he had no interest it understanding them. "Yes. Talyn and I are most obviously alive."

"_Well that's great news. Aeryn and I are on our way over. "_ Crichton replied.

"I would prefer to come over there."

"_We won't hear of it. Moya says that Talyn wants to see me again. I can see how he's grown. We'll be there momentarily, " _Aeryn replied.

Crais could tell that he was not going to win that argument. He could also tell from Aeryn's voice that she was anxious to get here as soon as possible. "I will meet you in the Hammond side hangar bay."

Looking in the mirror at his wild mane of hair, he realized there was no way for him to tame it before they arrived. If he did not meet them at the hangar, they would come searching for him and find him before he was ready.

Dressing quickly, he decided to leave his hair as it was. As large as Talyn had grown, he made it to the hangar as Talyn was cycling the atmosphere. When the hangar doors opened, Crais braced himself for the greeting he was going to get. He had no idea what it was going be, but he was certain that he would not enjoy it.

Crichton threw his arms wide, huge grin on his face and shouted, "My boy Crais," before wrapping his arms around the former Peacekeeper.

"Crichton," he replied tersely.

"What the hell happened to your hair?"

Crais ignored Crichton's question and focused on Aeryn. "Aeryn, it is good to see you again." He noticed that she was carrying something in her arms, something swathed in black.

"Crais, it's good to see you and Talyn, too. We were quite surprised to see him emerge from Starburst."

"Yeah, how did you survive and _what_ happened to your hair?"

"Did we disturb you?" Aeryn asked.

"It is the middle of my sleep cycle, but that is inconsequential. What are you holding?" he asked, unable to conceal his curiosity anymore.

She pulled back the blanket and smiled proudly. "This is our son, D'Argo Sun-Crichton."

Crais looked down at the sleeping child. "Your son?"

"A lot has happened since you've disappeared. It'll take a while to explain. And we'd like to hear what happened to you."

"Of course. I have nothing but time."

"We can come back later," she offered.

"Why don't the two of you, three of you, go to command? Talyn can show you some of what happened and I will join you shortly."

Crais watched them walk down the passageway before heading to his quarters. If he was forced to confront the human, he _would_ be presentable.

_Why was she carrying their son?_ Talyn asked.

"Most young are dependant on their mothers. Leviathans are unique in that respect."

_Why are the young born helpless?_

Crais really didn't want to answer these questions right now. It only accentuated his loneliness. "We will discuss it later. The less time I keep them waiting the better."

_Will we stay with them?_

"For now. Unless they tell us we aren't welcome."

&&&&&&&&&

**A/N:** This was started for a "Come as you are " challenge, but it has since morphed into something much more. If folks are interested this is a chaptered fic and I'll post more of it over here.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Looking in the mirror, Crais realized this was the best he was going to be able to control his hair without taking a shower. A few loose tendrils still hung from his temples, but they had always been difficult to control. He wasn't normally a vain man, but Crichton had seemed to be able to concentrate on little else other than the untamed hair. If this is what it would take to allow him to have a relatively peaceful conversation with the human, so be it.

He was just outside his quarters when he met Aeryn, who had obviously left the child with Crichton.

"We need to talk," she said quietly. "What are you going to tell John?"

"I was going to tell him the truth. I see no need for deception." He found this question odd since Aeryn had constantly preached the importance of truth.

"You can't let him know that I knew you survived," she said desperately.

He definitely found this to be out of character for her. She was not the type of person who normally resorted to begging. "And why not?"

Shifting nervously, she replied, "That's a part of my life I don't want him knowing about. He knows enough; he doesn't need to know everything."

After considering her words for a few microts, he decided it wouldn't hurt to entertain her request to the best of his ability. "As you wish. Though it may be difficult to come up with a plausible way of explaining where we've been."

Aeryn visibly relaxed and looked relieved. "Just…let him ask the questions. He knows you it's not in your nature to volunteer information. If he gets too close to the truth, I'll start asking questions to lead him away. Thank you, Bialar." She placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder and smiled weakly at him before turning and walking back toward the center chamber.

Crais was not entirely happy with this situation. He had taught Talyn the importance of being truthful, and Aeryn had done the same thing when she had been onboard. For her to go against that part of her personality was puzzling. He could feel Talyn's confusion. _I will do my best not to lie. You do understand the reason behind this deception, don't you? _

_No, I don't. _

Crais sighed. _There are times when the truth can be very painful. When that is the case, it is sometimes necessary to leave some of the facts out. That is what Aeryn is asking me to do. I will honor her request to the best of my ability. When we have more time, I will try to explain her reasoning to you. _He could tell that Talyn was still not satisfied with this explanation, but it was all he could afford to give for the time being. Especially since he did not fully understand her request himself.

It had all started a little over a cycle ago when Crais had explained his plan to Talyn…

* * *

"You understand why we must do this?"

_I do, but I'm afraid. _

"There is no reason to be afraid," he reassured. "You know that I have studied Leviathan theory, and I am reasonably certain that we will both survive. I have prepared the others with the worst-case scenario to deflect their attention. We will need time away from them for you to recover."

_Even Moya? _

"Yes, unfortunately, even your mother. Trust me, it will be easier if she believes we are truly gone. I do not know that destroying the Command Carrier will stop Scorpius, and he must be stopped. Crichton can do that; he is probably the only one who can. If she believes you are alive, she will be obsessed with finding you." He knew this truth would be hard for Talyn to hear. No matter how Crais had tried, he had never been able to break the bond Talyn felt with his mother. Not that it was an entirely bad thing. Crais had learned a lot more from his gunship than anyone would ever have guessed.

_Can we search for her one day when I am better? _

"We will do our best. You are brave. I know you can do this. Are you ready?"

_I am. I will do my duty. _

* * *

Crais walked slowly to the center chamber. He went through all that had happened over the last cycle, trying to organize it in a coherent manner so that when Crichton asked him questions, he would be prepared to answer them in a way that would protect Aeryn. He was thankful that Talyn had no way to directly communicate with Aeryn or Crichton.

Standing outside the door, he saw that Aeryn and Crichton were talking quietly with each other.

_"Do we trust him?" John asked. _

"Of course we do. Why wouldn't we?"

"Because he's still Crais. He obviously lied about being able to survive Starburst. And let's not forget that he did steal Talyn."

"That was in the past. He's changed a lot since then. I realize that you didn't spend a lot of time with him after the cloning, but I believe he is trustworthy. Besides, you heard Pilot, Moya accepts what Talyn has told her."

"Yeah, but Talyn was taught by Crais. I'm sure he's learned how to lie with the best of them."

"Crais wouldn't lie about this!" she defended.

"Oh, no? How about Xhalax's survival? Yeah, I heard about that. I'm taking everything he says with a grain of salt. Damn! How long does it take a man to get dressed?"

Crais scowled. He had heard enough. It was beyond him what Aeryn saw in Crichton. Schooling his features so that neither would realize he had been eavesdropping, he entered the center chamber.

"It's about time, Crais. You take longer than any girl I've ever met getting ready for a hot date. Though with that unruly mop of hair you have, maybe I shouldn't be surprised."

Clenching his jaw, Crais moved to take a seat at the table. Over the last cycle, he had learned a great deal about patience, and he decided to ignore the sarcastic comment.

"I have learned through Talyn about much of what you have experienced since we last met. Congratulations are in order for bringing a ceasefire to the Scarran-Peacekeeper War, though I am not sure how long that will last." It was true that he had learned this information through Talyn, but it had not been from Moya, as he was leading them to believe. It had been the truce that had caused him to finally seek out Moya.

"Have Talyn ask Moya about that wormhole weapon again. It'll last," John insisted.

"Talyn tells me you no longer possess that knowledge. How long do you think it will be until one side or the other learns this?"

John frowned and changed the subject. "So, I thought you said you wouldn't survive Starburst?"

"I merely said that you would not find me after we Starburst from the carrier. As you will recall, Talyn was quite…ill when we were last together. While I was able to finish most of the repairs on the command carrier, I knew that he was not fully healed…"

"So you lied to us," John snapped indignantly.

"I did not. It was a hard decision, but it was best that I leave everyone with the impression that we would not survive. Moya understands; she has already come to accept our reasoning."

"But what about the wreckage that we found?" Aeryn asked.

"Talyn did suffer a fair bit of damage. It took us some time to recuperate after starburst. Thankfully, as a Leviathan, he is capable of regenerating lost and damaged tissue."

"So what did you do after Talyn recovered? I have a hard time believing you've been looking for us this whole time."

Crais took a moment, trying to decide how to answer that question. "No. We did not immediately begin looking for you."

* * *

**A/N:** Many thanks to those that have taken the time review. Your encouragement keeps the creativity flowing from my muses. For now, I hope to post a new chapter every 4-5 days or so. I'll see if I can keep that pace up or I have to slow it down at some point. 


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Crais closed his eyes and gave the order, "Talyn… Starburst!" He stood stoically as he waited for what would happen next. No one had ever researched what would happen if starburst happened in an enclosed space. Starburst was travel into and through hyperspace, with Leviathans as the only mode of transportation able to do that. Scientists for countless cycles had been trying to master starburst for built ships, but to no avail.

There was a very small possibility that Talyn would complete the transfer into hyperspace before he collided with the end of the hangar, but it was not enough of a possibility to lay one's hopes on. All in all, he had decided that it would be wiser to keep that information to himself. Not even Talyn knew. For once, he was thankful the Peacekeepers had demanded he turn over his transponder.

He could feel the crackle as the starburst energy was directed into Talyn. Just as well that he had abandoned his attempt to calculate the forces involved; the stresses on the gunship had been unimaginable. As the energy reached a shrieking crescendo, Talyn lurched forward, and Crais was thrown across command.

When he regained consciousness, he could smell smoke and hear the snaps and pops of shorted electrical wiring. Realizing his hand was in liquid, he became concerned he would be electrocuted. Instead of water, he found that his hand was in blood. There was a large gash in his leg, which was still oozing. He quickly stripped off his tattered captain's jacket, and one remaining glove, and used his undershirt as a temporary bandage.

Knowing that was the best he could do at the moment, he crawled to the control panel and tried to pull himself to his feet. He ended up slumped over the panel from the combination of blood-loss and pain, and the fact that his ankle was either broken or severely strained. Once the dizziness and nausea passed, he pushed himself off the panel far enough to ascertain that it was no longer operational.

Taking several deep breaths, he forced down the impending panic. He was severely injured, in need of medical care, and had absolutely no idea where he was or what state Talyn was in. He had known that if they did meet their end, that it might not be swift. Now, in order to help Talyn, he would first have to help himself.

On his way to medbay, Crais concluded that his ankle could not actually be broken, though he was reasonably certain that at least two of his ribs were. Add to this a rather severe concussion that made concentrating on anything difficult and affected his vision, and he was not very well off. He dosed himself with painkillers and then proceeded to clean and seal the wound on his leg and several smaller cuts he had sustained.

Feeling totally exhausted, he lay down on the diagnostic bed. As he was drifting off to sleep, he heard a beeping coming from the floor. Leaning over the edge of the bed, he saw a DRD looking up at him. "Good. At least one of you survived. Did Talyn?" He had grown concerned when he had not heard the familiar hum of ventilation and other life-support systems, but ensuring his continued survival had to be his first priority.

The DRD circled excitedly.

* * *

Crais took this to mean that Talyn was still alive. "You must help him. Gather any others and work on the life support systems." He paused trying to remember what else. "I will try to help in a few arns, but first, I must rest. Go," he ordered weakly. The last thing he heard was the DRD motoring out of the room.

Crais woke to the sound of a chirping DRD. He tried to sit up in an instinctive attempt to determine where he was, but pain immediately lanced through his body, forcing him to lie back down. The chirping became more frantic. "I am awake, so be quiet," he snapped and quickly wished he hadn't. Obviously, the painkiller had worn off.

After several long microts, he felt ready to try getting up again. This time, he moved more slowly and was soon perched on the edge of the bed. The DRD began circling and chirping again. He was about to silence the droid when he saw a crude metal crutch propped against the bulkhead. With the aid of that device, he retrieved another dose of painkiller and, without delay, proceeded to administer it to himself.

Unsure how long it would last, he followed the DRD to get as much work as possible done before he would be forced to rest again. The DRD led him to the neural cluster, and he saw four of its brethren working. He hoped that there were more, and that they were elsewhere. Before the starburst, there had been nearly one hundred DRDs overseeing Talyn's systems. He knew that the Peacekeepers had removed several for study, but he believed the vast majority had remained onboard. Even with that many DRDs, he could not be sure that they would be sufficient to provide enough support to either restore Talyn, or to keep the gunship alive. Crais still had no idea how extensive or severe Talyn's injuries were.

For three days, he intermittently worked on Talyn's repairs, generally resting where he was when he became tired. Whenever he would fall asleep for more than a couple of arns, the DRD would wake him up again. Somehow, it must have been able to access Talyn's databanks on medical treatment of a concussion. By now, he was finding it easier to concentrate, and he would wake up quickly whenever the DRD nudged him. He still could not move around easily. His body was battered and bruised, making any movement painful, and he could not stand for very long on his injured foot without it throbbing unmercifully. At least his headache was finally dissipating.

Life support and short-range sensors had been restored, and they were now concentrating on navigation. Crais wanted to determine where they were and if it would be safe to send out a distress signal. While he did want to ensure that there was nothing wrong with Talyn's higher functions, that would have to be attended to after his first priority – finding a source of aid and assistance. At a bare minimum, Crais's rations were running out, and he would need to resupply soon.

The DRDs began chirping happily, and Crais assumed they had finished the repairs to navigation. "Excellent. Begin work on propulsion." Carefully, he made his way to command to check the display. Most of the DRDs were working on structural repairs to make Talyn habitable. Crais had his small work crew of six DRDs that appeared to have dedicated themselves to following his direction. He knew that to more efficiently use the DRDs, he would have to ensure the integrity of Talyn's higher functions and have the gunship manufacture a new transponder. After propulsion was restored, that would be his next project. A part of him wished there were DRDs that could repair Sebaceans as easily as they repaired Leviathans.

Once in command, Crais activated the Navigation Console and waited for a fix to triangulate. He was quite surprised to discover that they had been thrown much farther from the carrier than any normal starburst should have allowed them to travel. Then he realized that they must have passed through the wormhole. There was no other explanation for them being this far from Peacekeeper controlled space. He chose a likely system, and sent the coordinates to the Propulsion system in preparation for when it was restored.

He then sent out an automated distress signal. He wasn't entirely sure who might answer it, but the DRDs seemed quite capable of defending Talyn, even if the internal cannons were still not fully functional.

Not ready to head back to the maintenance tunnels yet, he sat on the bench and leaned back against Talyn's cool bulkhead. He didn't know if Talyn could hear him, but he had been talking to the gunship anyway. "Hopefully, there will be someone to hear our plea. I will do everything in my power to fix you. I will not leave you like this. I will not abandon you. I am proud of you." These were all variations of things he had been telling Talyn the last few days. The youngster's psyche had been severely damaged, and he knew that positive reinforcement was the best thing for Talyn right now. He hoped to one day soon hear the familiar chirps of his friend.

* * *

The distress signal had been broadcasting for five days, and there had been no response. Unfortunately, the short-range sensors were the only ones that were operational. He was beginning to doubt whether or not the comms array were actually functioning again. Propulsion was only operating minimally, and he estimated it would be another ten days before they reached the nearest planet. His rations would be gone in three. He had tried to help the DRDs with their probes of Talyn's higher functions, but he did not yet possess the mobility to be of much service with those repairs. For the past two days, he'd had very little to do.

He didn't realize he had fallen asleep until he heard he beeping of the comms panel. Hobbling to the console, he activated the comms. "This is the Leviathan Talyn, requesting assistance."

_Crais? Is that you?"_

"Aeryn? Is Moya nearby?" Had they come searching for him even though he had indicated even to her that they wouldn't survive?

_"No. It's a long story. May I board?"_

"You will have to come through the hammond side airlock. I cannot currently access the hangar bays."

_"All right. See you soon."_


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Thankfully, our distress call was finally answered. Once we were towed to the planet, I was able to receive the medical attention that I required. As you can tell, my injuries were quite easily healed as the planet was a breakaway Sebacean colony." Since Aeryn had asked him to keep her involvement secret, he did not go into detail about his rescue. He would let Crichton assume that someone from the planet had heard his distress call. In actuality, Aeryn had taken her Prowler for help and gotten a tow ship to take Talyn to the planet.

"Having regained full mobility, I was able to easily oversee Talyn's repairs. I employed a small technical staff to do any work that the DRDs could not, but for the most part, it was myself and the DRDs conducting the repairs."

John interrupted, "And his higher functions are all right? I mean, he's right in the head and isn't going to be shooting Moya again or anything, is he? I know sharing your engrams messed him up something fierce."

Crais scowled, but ignored the insult. "I was able to repair and reprogram his matrix. He has been completely stable this past cycle." He glanced briefly at Aeryn, who looked at the baby as soon their eyes met. He knew that telling Crichton what had happened without mentioning her would beextremely difficult.

"Okay, so you're better, Talyn's better. Presumably, you laid low so that the Peacekeepers didn't come hunting for you. Did you do anything interesting, or should we just skip ahead to you finding us?"

Crais was momentarily saved from having to reply by Talyn notifying him there was a ship approaching. "We have company," he announced as he rose and left the room for Command.

"What sort of company?" John asked as he and Aeryn followed Crais.

"It is a ship of unknown design. Talyn is trying to hail them and has moved to protect Moya." When they arrived in Command, Crais asked, "Do you recognize that ship?"

John shook his head. "Never seen anything like that."

They all examined the large vessel. It was slightly larger than Moya, but even more heavily armed than Talyn.

"You're sure you don't know them? I know you like to make new enemies all the time, and then they tend to come looking for us." John was recalling their confrontation with the Halosians.

"Now is not the time to argue. Have they answered Talyn's hail?" Aeryn asked.

"No. His sensors cannot fully penetrate the hull of that ship. However, we can tell that their weapons are armed."

"Aeryn, get out of here. Take D'Argo back to Moya now."

"I'm staying right here. We're safer on Talyn than anywhere else. His armor will protect us from an attack," she insisted.

"All right. They're pointing guns at us, so they probably want something. Question is: what?"

"How do I know that they are not after you? Trouble does seem to be attracted to you," Crais retorted.

"Touché. Okay, what do we do now? Shoot them or wait for them to attack us?"

"I will try to manually hail them. Perhaps they have chosen not to respond to an automated hail." He activated the comms channel. "Unknown vessel, this is the Leviathan gunship you have targeted. State your intention."

"_Are you traveling with the Leviathan Moya?"_

All three of them looked at each other. "Unknown vessel, identify yourself."

"I don't like this," John said.

"Why would they be looking for you?" asked Crais.

"I don't know. _Really_. I have no idea why anyone would be looking for us. Not that I usually do."

Crais's gaze took on a far away quality. "They have energized their weapons."

"_You will answer our inquiry."_

"What do we do now?" John asked.

Aeryn stared at the display. "Talyn is powering up his cannons."

"Crais, you have to stop this. Wait! Cannons?"

"Talyn has grown additional weaponry on his starburst arms to supplement his main cannon. Surely you did not think that a gunship would have but one gun?"

"Have him power down. We don't want to antagonize these guys," John said.

"I will not leave us vulnerable. In addition to that, we are the only protection Moya has," Crais insisted.

"Gentlemen, I suggest we stop arguing. It's not getting us anywhere. I agree with Crais. As long as their weapons are powered up and they are being uncooperative, we need to keep Talyn's weapons ready to fire," Aeryn said. "Do we want to tell them that we are traveling with Moya?"

Talyn was rocked as he was hit with a pulse blast. "That was not a full power blast. No, Talyn, do not retaliate," said Crais. He activated the comms. "We are traveling with Moya. Be advised that we will defend the Leviathan."

"_We do not intend any harm to Moya,"_ came the reply.

"Funny way of showing it," replied John sarcastically.

"Crichton," hissed Crais by way of warning that the comms channel was still open.

"So what do you want with Moya that you would shoot at us just to make the determination that she is here?" asked Aeryn.

"_We will not discuss this matter in open space. You will accompany us to a secure location."_

"Do we have a choice?" asked John.

"I don't see one," replied Aeryn as she looked at Crais.

"I do not like this situation, but as Aeryn has said, I do not see that we have a choice."

"We could starburst; I doubt they could catch us," offered John.

"Talyn has not had enough time to recover. It will be at least another arn before he can conduct another starburst."

"And if they take us somewhere that they have reinforcements?" John asked.

"Their ship has greater firepower than we do. If they wanted to attack us, they would have done so already," said Aeryn.

"They are recharging their cannon," said Crais.

"All right, let's go along and see what they want," acquiesced John.

"We will accompany you," replied Crais.After closing the channel, he added, "Talyn, remain alert."

"There isn't anything in this area, is there?" asked John.

"The nearest planet is nearly a solar day away," replied Crais.

"So, we've got time for you to finish up your story of what you did while you were gone?"

Crais stared at John for several microts. He knew that it would be difficult to keep Aeryn's secret much longer. "If you insist."

"We don't seem to have anything else to do at the moment," John replied.

Crais could see that Aeryn was not pleased, but he had no valid reason for refusing John's request. He would have to find an excuse to speak with her alone and convince her it was time to tell her secret.

&&&&&&&&&

**A/N:** Many thanks to those that have reviewed. I'm glad that you are enjoying this story and I hope to present an interesting theory on what might have been.

To MoyaCrewAvenger (if you are still reading, though I doubt it): I removed your review because you were making a fool of yourself. You obviously do not know what part of Farscape I generally write (Crais is my favorite character, though of the last 8 fictions I have posted, only one had any J&A subtext to it, but was not a driving part of the plot, just like in this one), and you obviously don't know what this story was about (I'm still amazed you could draw the conclusion this would be a J&A shippy fic based on the first chapter).


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"Is he going to be all right?" Aeryn asked the doctor.

"Very soon. His injuries looked much more serous than they were. I am more concerned about that…device. It seems to be wired directly to his nervous system."

"There should be nothing wrong with it. It's normal."

The doctor frowned. "We administered a mild sedative. He should be conscious in about four arns. If everything still looks good then, I'll release him an arn after that."

"I'll be back for him then." She had some people to make contact with while she waited for Crais. Everything she had heard had led her to believe that the ex-Peacekeeper mercenaries she was looking for had a presence here. Having arrived in a Prowler, she hoped that she had garnered the right kind of attention.

Deciding the best way to make contact would be to walk around and be seen, she headed for the merchants' quarter. After two arns, no one had approached her, and she was beginning to wonder if her information had been wrong. Abandoning the subtle approach, she spent the next arn inquiring about Prowler parts.

"I don't have anything like that, but I know a guy that might. Go to the Hungry Hynerian and ask for Celik. He carries that sort of stuff."

"Thanks," she replied. It took her nearly a quarter arn to find the establishment in question. She knew that time was beginning to run short. Crais would be looking for her as soon as he regained consciousness.

The inside of the Hungry Hynerian was dark and smelled bad. She looked around and only saw one of the patrons who appeared likely to be Celik. "You Celik?" she asked.

"Who wants to know?" he asked gruffly.

"I'm looking for Prowler parts. I was told that Celik might be able to help me procure them."

"Have a seat." He waited for her to get settled in the chair. "So, you have a Prowler?"

"Why else would I be looking for parts for one?"

"They're hard to come by. You know how to use it?" he asked skeptically.

"I don't see that it's any of your business."

He chuckled at her. "I like your spunk. You came in with that Leviathan thing."

She noticed it wasn't a question and waited for him to say more.

"I just might have what you're looking for. I'll find you later. Bring your friend. Now, if you'll excuse me…" He rose from his seat and left the establishment.

She looked after him quizzically. His actions led her to believe that he did have at least something to do with the renegade Peacekeepers. She didn't like the idea that they were following her, but it did speak of a large and well-organized group, which is what she had been hoping for. 'Bring your friend.' She didn't have any idea if Crais would be at all interested in this group. They hadn't talked much after she had realized that he needed aid sooner rather than later.

Checking the time, she saw that she would have to hurry to make it back to the hospital before Crais regained consciousness. When she arrived, she was pleased to see that he was just coming out from under sedation.

"Where…?" he asked weakly.

"At the hospital. You're fine. They just ran some tests as a precaution. The doctor thinks you can be released in about an arn." She really wanted to talk to him about the renegades, but she knew this was not the place to bring that up.

"Talyn. I can't feel him," Crais said as he reached back to turn the transponder on.

"He's unconscious right now. They sedated him for the pain so that he neither hampers your recovery, or panic and injure himself further, but as far as anyone can tell, he escaped serious harm. Once you feel better, we will return to him."

"That is a good plan."

She spent the next arn recounting what had happened to everyone once Moya had escaped.

"Why did you leave?" he asked.

"I wanted something more. I wanted to be able to make a difference. We succeeded in what we had set out to do. Neither the Peacekeepers nor the Scarrans have wormhole technology." She refused to tell him it had to do with John more than anything else, but she knew he had to suspect that she was not being entirely truthful.

"And you weren't making a difference before?" he asked cautiously.

"Not like I could," she replied quietly, hoping that he would realize she didn't want to talk about it at the moment.

"I wish to dress. Can you see to the payment?"

"Of course. I'll meet you in the lobby." Once they were back onboard Talyn, she would tell him of the renegades and her intention to join them.

"Have you gotten any supplies?" he asked as they walked back to the spaceport.

"Some. Not a lot. I don't have a lot of funds, and I wanted to make sure that I could help both you and Talyn… I took very little with me when I left Moya."

"It's not necessary for you to pay our bills. Throughout our travels, we've earned a decent amount of currency. I will repay you for your troubles."

"It's no trouble. It's the least I could do for Talyn. I know that…I didn't help matters."

He replied quietly, "There is no need to apologize. I pushed when I had no right to push."

They finished walking back to Talyn in awkward silence. Once onboard, Crais began the process of waking Talyn up.

"While I was out, I met someone. Someone who is willing to offer me a way to make a difference." She then explained her quest to find the renegade Peacekeepers.

Crais listened intently. When she was finished, he asked, "And you think you can make a difference with them?"

"They stand for the principles the Peacekeepers were founded on, not the abomination they have become. Out here, where there is no other law, they offer a way to keep the peace. They need people like me…people like you."

"After all that we have been through, Talyn and I are ready for some peace of our own. We can have that now. Everyone believes us dead. This far out in uncontrolled space, no one will find us. We will live quietly, and not draw any more attention to ourselves than necessary."

"Would you really be happy with that life? You are a soldier, as am I, as is Talyn. At least listen to what they have to say. Talyn would be a very valuable resource." She didn't want to do this alone. She needed a friend, and right now, Crais was all she had.

"If they make contact with you, I will listen. Talyn is awake. It is time to properly assess his injuries so that we can acquire the supplies we need."

They spent the rest of the day evaluating Talyn. It was much easier for Crais to do this now that he was fully healed. He could make full use of the transponder and was also now able to access almost all of Talyn's systems.

First thing the following morning, they headed out to see what they could find in the merchants' shops. They spent most of the morning scouring various shops for anything remotely useful.

While they were in one establishment, the proprietor said, "If you're looking for stuff for a Leviathan, you're looking in the wrong place. My friend, Celik, now he has what you're looking for, if you're interested."

"We might be. Where can we find him?" Aeryn asked.

"Someone will come by the spaceport for you at sundown."

&&&&&&&&&&

Crais was finally able to speak to Aeryn alone when Crichton went to relieve himself before returning to the center chamber. "Aeryn, I cannot continue this story without revealing your involvement. He deserves to know the truth."

"I can't tell him the truth. He…can't handle the truth."

"He has been through much. He loves you. Let him know. I will not lie to him, and I am sure he would rather hear the truth from you than from me. Tell him we met on the planet, don't let him know you are the one who saved us. This is not news that improves with time. Already it has been nearly a cycle."

She sighed. "I know."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

As John walked back from the refresher unit, he couldn't help but think that Crais wasn't being entirely honest with him. Not that he was surprised. Crais might say that Peacekeepers were honorable, but it had been John's experience that Crais was very good at twisting the truth to suit his needs. He would have to pull Aeryn off to the side and ask her about this, though he had a queasy feeling that she knew more than she was letting on, too.

When he entered the center chamber, he noticed that the two of them were sitting in an uncomfortable silence, as though they had just stopped talking because they had heard him returning. "Well, don't stop on my account," he said. "As I recall, you were telling us about your miraculous recovery and what you've been up to for the last cycle."

Crais didn't say anything, but only glanced at Aeryn.

John looked over at her, too, but found that she would not meet his gaze, her eyes focused intently on D'Argo. He turned his attention back to Crais. "So, what happened on this planet?"

Crais looked at Aeryn once more before speaking. "I was able to find others who had been dissatisfied with the Peacekeepers…"

"You found renegades?" John interrupted. He was starting to put the facts together, and he didn't like what they were telling him. He hoped that he was wrong.

"I would not call them renegades. Most were either outcasts or those who never completed their training satisfactorily. Unsurprisingly, there are ways to escape the Peacekeepers. However, most who do so prefer not to draw unnecessary attention to themselves as known deserters are automatically under a death sentence."

John continued to look at Aeryn, who continued to avoid his gaze. "And these dissatisfied former Peacekeepers, what about them?"

"They had a small outpost on that planet. Once they ascertained that I was hiding from the Peacekeepers, they offered to assist me in exchange for my services."

"So you and Talyn hired yourselves out as mercenaries?" He was trying to keep his anger in check. Long ago, he had told Aeryn that it didn't matter what she had done while she was gone, that he had forgiven her, but finding out that she had been hiding Crais and Talyn's existence somehow seemed worse than learning she had been part of an assassination squad.

"Not exactly."

"Well, it's pretty lucky that you found them. Don't you think so?" he asked Aeryn. There was a very uncomfortable silence. "Okay, so what aren't the two of you telling me?"

Aeryn finally spoke, but she did not meet John's eyes. "I found Crais on the planet. It's hard to hide the presence of something as unique as Talyn."

"And so the two of you joined up with these mercenaries?" He wondered if he would finally learn what she had done in her time away from Moya. "Is that how you ended up getting involved with the mercenaries and getting in trouble with the Hokathians?" He had told her that he wasn't mad at her about this anymore, but the fact that she was still refusing to disclose the truth was starting to seriously irritate him. He had hoped that she would one day talk about it, and it had appeared that this might be the catalyst to begin that discussion, but she was still resisting.

When Aeryn didn't answer, he turned to Crais. "Care to elaborate? Or should I have Pilot ask Talyn?"

Crais replied reluctantly, "When Aeryn found me, she told me that she was looking for this group of former Peacekeepers. I agreed to meet with them, as well."

"Right, so you two went off to play Bonnie and Clyde. That's why you couldn't tell me what you were doing, right? Because you were off with Crais?" As the details started manifesting themselves, he was finding it harder and harder to keep calm. She had known all this time that Crais and Talyn were alive. There had to be a reason that even now she was not willing to talk about it, and none of the theories that he could formulate made him the least bit happy.

"No. That's not it at all. Crais and I did not work together."

"Then what was it?" John asked, not entirely believing her.

"I will be in Command, monitoring our progress," Crais said quietly before slipping out of the center chamber.

Trying to maintain a calm exterior, he said softly, "Aeryn, talk to me. You've waited long enough. What else are you hiding, other than the fact that you knew Crais and Talyn were alive?"

"I did things that I'm not proud of while I was away. I know they will do nothing but cause pain and that's why I didn't want you to know about them. It's all in the past and there's nothing to be done to change them. We have both moved on. Why do we have to revisit that time? Surely you have secrets that you have kept from me."

He thought about what had happened with Grayza on Arnessk, and he knew that she was right But he also knew that those events had been beyond his control, and he had done everything in his power to resist. He had the impression that she had consciously made her decisions. "I think this is a little bigger than anything I might have kept from you. Why didn't you tell me about Crais and Talyn being alive?" He decided to start with the easy question.

"As you've probably gathered, the two of them didn't want anything to do with Peacekeepers of any kind. And unlike us, everyone thought that they were dead. They finally had a chance to be free, to not be hunted anymore."

"But then you hooked them up with the mercenaries," John interrupted.

"It wasn't like that. Crais came to the first meeting so that I wouldn't have to meet with them alone."

"Yeah, right, Crais the protective big brother."

She sighed. "You didn't know him on Talyn. He changed."

"That's what everyone says, but then he keeps proving everyone wrong."

D'Argo started crying at his father's angry tone of voice and Aeryn tried to soothe the infant. "Fine. Don't believe me. Go talk with him and find out for yourself."

"You're changing the subject on me. Why didn't you tell me they were alive?" He was torn between not wanting to yell, which would no doubt just further upset D'Argo, and wanting to make himself heard over the fuss.

Aeryn got up and started pacing, rocking the baby to get him to calm down. When he was finally quiet, she said, "He asked me not to tell anyone. We both knew that if Moya was aware that Talyn was still alive, she would want to search for him. And we couldn't have that happening. Talyn was still weak and needed time to recover, and we both knew that the Peacekeepers would be after Moya. If I had told you, Moya would have known."

"Fine. You had a good reason for not telling me Crais was alive. What did the two of you do with the mercenaries?"

"They aren't really mercenaries. They are the Peacekeepers as they should have been, as they once were."

"And so they sent you out as part of an assassination squad? Real noble and definitely what the Eidelons would have wanted," he quipped.

She sighed. "It's not like that. You don't understand."

"Then tell me. Aeryn, I'm begging you, open up to me."

She gave him a hard look. "Fine. You want to know? I'll tell you. But once I do tell you, there is no going back. You won't be able to just forget all of this once I've told you."

"That's fine. I just want to know."

She paused for a moment, making sure he was positive about that, before continuing. "Crais and I waited where we had been instructed. At the appointed time, a representative came for us and led us to a very small gathering. There were only a handful of reformed Peacekeepers there. We were being judged to see if we were worthy of acceptance into their organization."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Crais thumbed his pulse pistol anxiously as he and Aeryn waited for someone to arrive. He still couldn't believe he was contemplating this. He and Talyn could finally live a free life and do whatever they wished. But Aeryn had been correct. A soldier's life was the only one he knew anymore, and it was also what Talyn had been bred for. Still, he resolved to consider his options carefully before allying himself with this renegade group of Peacekeepers. If that was in fact what they were.

Aeryn was leaning casually against the side of the spaceport main office. Both of them were very much aware of their surroundings. Checking the sky, he could see the sun dipping below the horizon, and still no one had come for them. He would not wait much longer. His time could be better spent conducting repairs.

Just as he began to turn back towards where Talyn was docked, Aeryn said, "He's coming."

He followed her gaze and saw a figure making its way towards them. This man did have somewhat the bearing of a soldier, but he most definitely did not have the well-groomed appearance of one.

"So… You interested in more than just Prowler parts?" Celik asked Aeryn. For a moment, his gaze flitted to Crais.

"We might be. It depends on what you have to offer," said Crais. His hand was resting on his pulse pistol.

"I think I just may have exactly what you are looking for. Come with me."

"Where are we going?" asked Crais suspiciously.

"It's not that far from here, but I don't like to discuss business in the open. The wrong person might be listening. It's safe, and you can keep your weapons if it makes you feel better."

"It does," Crais growled. There was something about this man that he did not like, but he could not determine precisely what it was. It took them about a quarter arn to reach their destination. He used his link with Talyn to map their progress, and he was not at all surprised to learn that they were being taken by a circuitous route. Obviously, their contact hoped to confuse them in case they decided to leave. Looking at Aeryn, he could tell that she was trying to track their path, but he knew that she would never find the most direct route back to the spaceport. He brushed against her arm and then scratched the back of his neck, hoping she would understand that Talyn would be standing by to give him directions if they needed to leave in a hurry.

Their destination was the back door of a rickety building in a very neglected alley. He was further placed on-guard when they descended into the building's basement. They emerged into a room that was very out of place given the building's façade. It was fairly modern with several computer terminals. The terminals were all turned off, so there was no chance for him to gather any information that way. On the far side of the room was a door to a conference room. There were six others seated around an oblong table. He recognized one of the six almost immediately.

"Commander Merrin," he growled.

Merrin grinned. "I bet you never thought you would see me again, did you?"

Crais was conflicted. Merrin had been declared a traitor and deserter ten cycles ago. The failure of his commanding officer to track down and capture Merrin had led to his being promoted to captain of the command carrier. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately in this case, he himself had never been given the 'opportunity' to track Merrin down. "No. I didn't."

"Please, have a seat," Merrin said as he indicated empty chairs at the end of the table.

Crais paused a moment before joining Aeryn at the table.

"I've been led to believe that you are part of a renegade Peacekeeper organization; one that follows the tenets that Peacekeepers were originally founded upon," said Aeryn.

"We are. And I suppose you would like to know why you should join us, Aeryn Sun."

"How did you…?" she asked in surprise.

"We are a very well organized group. Though that has not always been the case. We patrol the areas in this sector that the Peacekeepers have forsaken. We maintain the peace, allow free trade, keep the Scarrans out."

Crais snorted. "There is nothing here that is of interest to either the Scarrans or the Peacekeepers. That is why you are here. You tell us what you do, but you do not tell us why we should join your organization. You waste my time."

"If you wish to wander aimlessly in the Uncharted Territories, barely surviving, by all means, leave. Celik will escort you back to your ship. If you wish to be part of something more, to make a difference in the universe, to use your gunship for the greater good, stay."

Clenching his jaw, Crais weighed his options. It would be to his immediate advantage to ally himself with this group, but he first had to know what they were willing to offer him. Obviously, they could not take away his captaincy of Talyn, but he had been used to independent command for far too long to give it up now. "And what incentive do I have to stay? What position would you be offering me?"

"We are always in need of experienced pilots. We know that your ship is damaged. While repairs are being conducted, you can oversee pilot training. Depending on your performance, we will discuss your next assignment."

"And what about me?" Aeryn asked.

"As I said, we need pilots. You would be placed with one of our squadrons immediately following your indoctrination." He threw a file upon the table. "You have a quarter arn to make your decision."

Crais knew that he would not need the time, but he did not want them to think him desperate. At a minimum, he would stay with them long enough for Talyn to be repaired. He looked at Aeryn. "Is this what you expected?"

She flipped through the file, which was filled with mission debriefings. "More or less. It gives my life purpose. This _is_ what we were meant to be. What will you do?"

Picking up several of the reports, he gave them a cursory glance. He could definitely see the Peacekeeper influence, and with Merrin in charge, he had no doubt that it was a professionally run organization, not the band of low-level deserters he had half expected. "I am considering their offer." If he remained hesitant, he might be able to get more assurances. If he were to stay, he wanted a position at least equivalent to the one he had left behind when he abandoned the Peacekeepers. Of course, he had no idea what they had for large ships. He somehow doubted they had a shipbuilding program.

When the time was up, only Merrin returned, not that the others had spoken at the initial meeting. "Your decision?"

"Tell me where to report," Aeryn said.

"Excellent. And you, Bialar?"

Crais threw the reports back to the table. "These are quite - interesting - though incredibly small scale. I assume that you have chosen to provide us with the most innocuous reports you possess. I do not see that you can be a regional enforcer with resources such as those listed. What sort of capital ships do you have?"

"That is information only privy to those who are loyal to our cause."

"Why should I join an organization that could quickly be wiped out by a small Peacekeeper or Scarran scouting force?"

"We are not that vulnerable!" Merrin said defensively.

"And I am to take your word for that? The word of a traitor?" This was working perfectly. He needed Merrin emotional and off guard.

"Who are you to call me traitor?" spat Merrin.

"I was forced out by that half-breed menace, Scorpius. You deserted your post, abandoned your crew in their time of need. How do I know that you won't do the same thing again when faced with overwhelming odds? It's very convenient remaining here in a little-populated sector of the galaxy where you can bully the locals to follow your rules."

"We do not bully! We only go where invited. We provide them with security without the fear of subjugation."

"With what forces? I have seen evidence of a few Marauders and a handful of Vigilantes. Those cannot maintain security for very long. I think that you need me more than I need you."

"Do you? We have more than fifty capital ships to maintain the peace. Ours is a force much greater than you imagine. We have more than enough forces to maintain the peace, and we are growing every day as those who call themselves Peacekeepers realize they have been deceived. And many, like Aeryn Sun, bring new equipment with them."

"But I am the first to bring a warship. Yes, you need me." He leaned back in his chair, letting Merrin make the next move.

"We do not _need_ you. Your presence, and that of your gunship, would be a boon to our cause. But it is not a necessity."

"Then what do you offer me?" Crais asked confidently.

Merrin seemed to realize that he had been manipulated. "If your gunship can be made fully operational, you can use it as your command ship. You would be charged with protection of one of our sectors. Perhaps you can aspire to more."

Crais contemplated the offer. It was about what he had expected. It was a start, and it did give him some autonomy. When he felt enough time had passed, he said, "It is a reasonable offer. I assume that material and facilities for repairs to Talyn will be included? The spaceport prices are rather high."

"Is it capable of travel?"

"_He_ will be very shortly."

"Then you accept our offer?" Merrin asked cautiously.

Crais grinned triumphantly. "I do." He still was not sure if he would remain with them for very long, but he had favorable terms for the time being.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8 

Crais interrupted Aeryn, "We're slowing down."

As she moved to get up, D'Argo started fussing. "Why don't the two of you head up to Command, and I'll be there shortly. I need to take care of him."

"Want me to lend a hand?" John asked.

"No. He just needs to be changed. I'll take care of it." John gave her a quick kiss before the two men left her alone with the baby. She quickly changed the diaper and disposed of it.

When she arrived in Command, she paused just inside the door, struck by the sight of the

nebula whose lip they were fast approaching. "Is there anything solid there?" As Peacekeepers, they had been trained to avoid nebulas, since they were generally difficult to scan and were prime sanctuaries for enemy vessels to hide in to boot.

Crais replied, "It is difficult to determine. We were just discussing our options. Talyn's sensors cannot properly scan any significant distance into this nebula due to electrical interference. I believe we should stop here."

"And what if they don't let us?" she asked. "They were quite adamant that we follow them to a secure location. I can only assume that they were referring to this nebula."

John added, "For once, I'm with Crais. They could have a fleet concealed there, and we would never know. Enough time has passed that we can starburst now, right?"

"That is an option." Crais closed his eyes. When he opened them, he announced, "Moya and Talyn are ready. I suggest you hold on to something."

Aeryn braced herself against the bulkhead to protect D'Argo from starburst. She could hear the familiar hum of starburst energy coursing through Talyn, but the noise died out before they lurched into starburst. "What happened?"

Crais was using the control panel, trying to manually activate starburst to no avail. "Talyn, remain calm. Nothing will be gained by panicking." He looked up at Aeryn. "Unknown. Talyn's systems are sound. And Moya's starburst also failed."

Talyn lurched again as he tried to turn from the nebula, but found himself invisibly restrained, and he started chirping anxiously. Aeryn grabbed onto the console and was thankful that John took hold of her arm to keep her from falling.

"Crais? What the hell is going on?" John asked.

"We appear to be caught in some sort of energy beam. Talyn cannot change course and neither, it appears, can Moya. It seems that we are going into the nebula whether we want to or not. Talyn! Be calm!" Crais chided.

Aeryn watched as Crais closed his eyes and gripped the console tightly. "Talyn, it isn't likely that the aliens want to hurt us or Moya. If that was their goal, they would have done so already. Right now, it's best if we just wait to see what they want." She reached up and rubbed the sensory node on the ceiling. "Don't fight them," she said in a calm, reassuring voice. The shaking stopped as he stopped struggling to break free.

They all watched in silence as the three ships slipped into the nebula. The electrical discharges sent a new round of panic through Talyn as he was repeatedly struck by lightning. It wasn't strong enough to do any damage, but he did not like the way it felt.

In the center of the nebula was an open area where they came to a stop.

"What now?" asked John.

"I guess we wait," replied Aeryn. She had moved to the sensor console and was attempting to recalibrate them so they would provide some information.

Crais activated comms when they finally received another incoming signal. Once again, it was an audio only transmission. _"You will disembark the Leviathan-hybrid."_

"Disembark to where?" John asked.

A small space station shimmered into existence before them. "I'm guessing there," Aeryn said.

"I will not leave Talyn," Crais insisted.

Talyn was rocked as they were hit with a low power blast from the alien ship. "I don't see that we have a choice," Aeryn said. "You've already told us that Talyn's sensors don't work here, and we can't run. We are at their mercy." D'Argo started wailing at all the commotion, and Aeryn rocked him, trying to quiet him.

"Then you do their bidding. I am remaining here," Crais replied stubbornly.

"Crais, don't be an idiot. What can you do from here?"

"Talyn, fire!" he shouted.

All three watched the blast dissipate harmlessly against the shields of the alien vessel. In retaliation Talyn was hit with a series of much more powerful blasts from their ship. This renewed D'Argo's crying.

Aeryn placed her hand on his arm. "Come on. You are only going to get the two of you killed if you keep this up. They obviously don't want us dead, so let's see what they do want."

Crais scowled as he looked at the vessel clearly visible through the viewscreen before turning to follow them to the transport pod.

As soon as the pod was clear of Talyn, it was seized by a tractor beam and pulled toward the station. "This is your fault, Crichton," Crais growled.

"How do you know that?"

"Trouble is attracted to you like no other individual in the galaxy. And they were looking for Moya. Clearly, this is your fault."

John sighed. "Just can't let it go, can you?"

Aeryn reprimanded, "Both of you, stop it! We don't have time for bickering. We may have to work together as a team. Hopefully, once we see these aliens, we can figure out what it is they want with us, and how to get out of this situation." She needed everyone to be quiet so she could think.

"No matter. When I don't return, they will come looking for me, and I doubt these aliens can resist the forces that will come to our aid."

"Whoa! Come to our aid? Who?" John asked.

"The renegade Peacekeepers. When we first made contact with the aliens, I had Talyn send a signal to them letting them know our current position and heading. During our transit, he sent position reports every arn. Now that the signals have stopped, it will only be a matter of time before they arrive," Crais said smugly.

"Crais, what the hell are you talking about?" John asked in confusion.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Crais noticed that Aeryn was spending a lot of time on Talyn while the gunship recuperated. Not that he minded. He enjoyed her company. She seemed more relaxed each time she visited, more like the Aeryn he remembered.

When Talyn's repairs were nearly complete, he approached her in one of the passageways. "Aeryn, Talyn and I were wondering if you would be willing to consider a transfer."

"To here?"

"He takes great comfort in your presence. I believe it has helped significantly in his recovery."

"They really need me with the pilots. Many of them aren't very well trained."

"I have reviewed the reports of your work. You have done an excellent job not only teaching them to be better pilots, but also improving the quality of the other instructors. I believe that the pilot training program can survive without you."

She paused a moment before answering. "I don't know. I enjoy being here with Talyn, but…"

"But what?" He was curious about her reluctance. She had always seemed more relaxed when onboard Talyn. A part of him wondered if he had anything to do with her reluctance, whether he was an unwelcome reminder of her past. He placed his hand on her shoulder. "He needs you." What he didn't tell her was that he needed her as a friend, too. He had grown accustomed to confiding in her.

"I'm a pilot, Bialar," she said simply, as though that would solve the argument.

He smiled and gave a small chuckle. "While Talyn has not had fighters until now, they were always an integral part of his design. He was genetically encoded to produce armed transport pods. Due to your familiarity with Leviathan transport pods and Prowlers, you are actually the ideal candidate to test the prototype."

"Armed transport pods? He's actually growing them?"

"A prototype for now. I could not anticipate every difficulty when the project was first conceived."

"And why didn't he do this before?" she asked suspiciously.

"It was not something he was programmed to do until he neared maturity, since it was assumed that he would initially be protected by a squadron of Prowlers from the Command Carrier. The intent was to concentrate first on growth and development of his other weapons systems. I… have changed priorities, since fighters are more important to the organization we are with now." He waited for her to make her decision. He was almost certain that she would accept.

"What sort of input would I have on the project?"

"A significant amount. Talyn respects your opinion, as do I."

"It sounds like a good opportunity."

"I will put in the transfer request. I would not anticipate it taking too long." He knew this was best for her. She needed a friend, as did he.

&&&&&&&&&&&&

Crais and Aeryn stood in the hangar bay staring at the new pod. It was red, sleek, smaller than a regular transport pod and very visibly armed.

"It's beautiful," Aeryn said in amazement.

"It is," he said proudly, grinning broadly at the look of admiration on her face. "And it is ready for it's first flight. I will accompany you so that you may more easily communicate with Talyn."

The two of them boarded the combat pod, and Crais guided her through the differences in the pre-flight checks. She smoothly piloted the pod out of the hangar and a safe distance from Talyn before conducting maneuvers.

Crais watched her and thought that she had never looked more happy or beautiful. "What is your assessment?" he asked.

"It's amazing. The controls are much more intuitive than those of a Prowler."

He grinned at her enthusiasm. While he had never been a pilot for the Peacekeepers, he had solicited input from Tauvo when the programming for the combat pod was developed. "Try the weapons."

She activated the weapons, and a heads up display appeared in front of her, allowing her to easily target a nearby asteroid, which she quickly destroyed. "This is truly incredible."

"I thought you might appreciate it."

"The synthesis of Leviathan and Peacekeeper technology is perfect. It feels so natural."

"I believe that is a result of your previous bonding with Talyn."

"And probably the fact I share Pilot's DNA."

He had not been aware of that. "Which will combine to make you the perfect instructor pilot for the combat pods."

"It shouldn't take long for anyone familiar with a Prowler to become proficient with these. Do you mind if I fly around for a while, get familiar with the ship?"

"Not at all," he replied. He enjoyed watching her. She seemed so free of her past and in her natural element as a pilot. After a few moments, he said, "You are doing an excellent job."

"Thank you," she replied. "And thank you for the opportunity to be the first to fly the combat pod. Would you like to take the controls?"

When she shifted controls to him, he found that they were very similar to a regular transport pod. He elected not to try the weapons; he knew that he would not be as proficient as she had been.

Once they landed and she started the shutdown sequence, she thanked him again. "I appreciate your allowing me to be the first to pilot one of these."

"I could think of no better pilot to have the honor. Talyn has made a log of our flight. I would like review it with you. Perhaps we can determine what adjustments, if any, need to be made to future models."

"Sure."

He led her to his quarters where they could work in private at his holo-table. It took them several arns to go through all the data and to optimize the design.

"These are going to be an amazing asset," she said when they were finished.

"They are." She looked up as the door opened and a DRD wheeled itself in, carrying a tray. "Is it that late?"

Crais consulted with Talyn. "It is. I see that Talyn has sent enough for two… if you would like to eat here."

They ate in silence at first, both mentally reviewing the events of the day. When Crais was nearly finished eating, he had an idea about the combat pod controls and activated the display in front of Aeryn. Moving around the table, he leaned over her. "I believe that it might be more efficient to re-arrange the controls like this."

She analyzed his changes. "Yes, I think you are right. That does make more sense."

It had been a while since he had been this close to Aeryn, and he found that she was still using the same floral scents in her hair. It seemed so long ago. He wondered if it was out of habit now, or if she meant something more. Suddenly, he was reminded of how long it had been since he had been with a woman. He wanted to say something, but had no idea what he could say that would not drive her away.

She seemed to feel his breath on her neck, but rather than pulling away, she slowly turned to face him.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

After half a cycle with the renegades, Talyn was fully healed, and Crais had had the time to explore the instability in his personality matrix. That seemed to be repaired also. While Talyn still had all his memories, he was not quite the same as he had been. Crais had expected this when he had shut Talyn down.

Aeryn had definitely been a valuable asset in Talyn's recovery. He saw her as a calming presence, and Crais had taken behavioral queues from her. Of course, a near death experience had a way of changing a person's life, and in his case, it had been a change for the better.

Talyn had produced a dozen combat pods, and she had done an excellent job training the new pilots. They still were not as proficient as they had been in their Prowlers, but that was to be expected since none of them had much experience with Leviathans.

Now, he could tell that she was getting restless. She wasn't the only one. From the first, he had tried to place his mark on the organization, to work to try to set up true Peacekeepers as they were supposed to be. But at every turn, he always seemed to meet more resistance. He had known that it would take time, but he was beginning to think that it might take more time than she was willing to devote. Now, it was likely that she was missing Crichton. They hadn't really talked about what had happened between her and the surviving Crichton. He was not one to meddle in someone else's personal life, but he could tell that she was thinking about her dead lover's twin again, even if she didn't mention it to him.

Her restlessness had led her to ask to be reassigned from fighter duty to the covert operations group. Knowing how unhappy she was—she was becoming visibly more morose day by day— he had reluctantly agreed.

Her squad had been sent on a mission of questionable value. They had been sent to Hokathia to remove the despotic Prime Hokathian from power. In his opinion, Hokathia was a planet that was not worthy of their attention. It wasn't even a regional power. He had argued against this political assassination, but had been overruled, though he could tell some of the others had secretly agreed with him. This could be the catalyst he needed to start asserting control over the organization.

Now, he was waiting for their return. Checking the time with Talyn, he contemplated the fact that the team should have returned by now. He would give them another arn before he sent a scout to report back.

_Do you think she's all right?_ asked Talyn.

Crais could definitely feel the concern the gunship felt for her. _I don't know. She is very capable, but it is not like her to be late._ A part of him wanted to send a scout out now, but that was not procedure. It would not do for him to show favoritism.

&&&&&&&&&&&

The scout had been gone for an arn and should be reporting in soon. Crais stood impatiently in command, harassing his watch officer and continually checking the scanners for signs of the scout vessel, which was a modified transport pod that shared Talyn's stealth capabilities.

When Talyn received an incoming communication, Crais immediately activated the comms. "Report."

"Captain, the mission was a success. The Prime Hokathian has been eliminated. I found one of our operatives. She seems to be suffering from some sort of heat delirium, but I cannot find a cause."

"Stand by for starburst," Crais ordered. To the scout, he barked, "Maintain your present position. We will rendezvous momentarily." After Talyn starbursted, he ordered the medical team to the docking bay and then hurried there himself.

Once the scout was onboard and he saw that the injured operative was not Aeryn, he felt a momentary sensation of relief. "What happened?" he ordered as the doctor examined the injured soldier.

"Af-after the assassination, they-they released a gas. We ran for our ships, but t-the delirium started."

"Doctor?" Crais asked.

"Her delirium is increasing quickly. I will see what I can do to counteract it, to stabilize her before it becomes fatal."

Crais watched the medical team hurry their patient out of the docking bay. "Lt. Etan, disperse the fleet in a search pattern near Hokathia. Two of our operatives are injured and in need of assistance." He knew that this was irrational behavior for two lives that might already be lost, but one of them was Aeryn. She was his one true friend in this organization, and he was not going to lose her, regardless of what the others—any or all of them—thought.

&&&&&&&&&&&

Four arns after Crais ordered the search, they found one of the Prowlers. It was not Aeryn's and the pilot's heat delirium had progressed to the living death. Knowing that continuing the search any longer would be fruitless, he gave the order to cancel it. There were better uses of their resources, and he had learned his lesson regarding pointless quests. He could only wish now that he had been more persuasive when he'd spoken out against this mission.

He resolved that they would not embark on any other such foolish missions. While they seemed to have a mission statement of sorts, an ultimate objective, they did not always seem to follow it. That was about to change.

Once the fleet was reformed, he sent them off on his patrol mission as he took Talyn back to their stronghold.

As he was sitting in his office trying to read reports, the doctor came to see him. "I have done everything I could, made all the analyses that I could. I regret to report that I have been unable to stave off the living death. Since we are returning to the stronghold, I will provide our central research lab with a full report, including every bit of data that I managed to collect. Hopefully, they can determine what the agent is, so that we will have a cure for this in the future."

"I have confidence that our researchers will unlock the secret to this agent. Thank you, Doctor." He rubbed his temples after he was left alone. First and foremost, Aeryn had been a pilot. He never should have given in to her desires to move to covert operations. But she had always been careful, and besides, he had thought that she would make an excellent addition and hopefully even improve their covert ops branch. She could have been his eyes and ears, a reliable foothold into that end of the organization.

He pushed the guilt aside, telling himself that she had made her own decision. He had outlined his doubts regarding the mission to her, but she had still decided to embark on it. He had not ever controlled her.

&&&&&&&&&&&

Rather than try to overtly take control, he had elected a more covert method of gaining support from the others. He knew there were a few that believed just as he did and would support him when the time came, but unfortunately, they did not constitute a majority. He also knew that there were those who would never support him. Then there were those in the middle, those who were too cautious, too afraid of change. Those were the ones he needed to sway to his side.

It took quite a bit longer than he had anticipated. This was mostly due to the fact that he and Talyn could not remain off station for long. Talyn was too valuable an asset to keep at headquarters, and Talyn would not go on patrol without Crais due to their symbiotic relationship. Crais thought that was the only thing that would hamper his leadership. Still, he knew that they really needed to be more nomadic in order to control this sector with their limited forces.

Once he had some measure of control, he began to mold the organization into something more mobile, more of a presence in the sector. Talyn became a mobile command center.

For a quarter cycle, they were both too busy to realize that something was missing. But over time, they both came to realize that controlling a military organization was not enough.

Crais spent the next half cycle working to instill his command method in the senior leadership and ensure the shipbuilding program was more effective than it had been so far. Once he felt that the organization could sustain itself without his constant presence, he announced that he and Talyn would go on an expedition to recruit new forces. He had no intention of actually doing so, but his followers would think a journey to find Talyn's mother was a tremendous waste of time. However, he felt that he really had little choice—they had been hearing news about what was happening between the Peacekeepers and the Scarrans, and Talyn had become quite concerned.

After ensuring that all was in order, he and Talyn left on their quest. He had told his forces that he would contact them periodically so that they knew he was still alive. He had no idea if they would ever return. This had not been as fulfilling as he had hoped.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&

**A/N:** Many thanks to nota for helping me flesh out this chapter better than it had been. I hope to have the next one up in a couple of weeks, but we'll see how cooperative the muses are going to be. Obviously, this will be the last of the flashback chapters. Best guess, two or three chapters remain.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

John paced nervously. No one had met them when they arrived on the station. In fact, it seemed deserted. And there was something odd about it. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but this station seemed very different from any others he had ever visited.

He still didn't know what to think about Crais informing them that the renegade Peacekeepers had tracked them, or that an attack fleet would likely be arriving soon. They still had no proof that these aliens meant them any harm. In fact, the aliens seemed to be working hard to protect them. From what, he didn't know. And that bothered him.

"Crais, are you sure that attacking these aliens is the smart thing to do? I mean, Talyn's guns didn't seem to do anything to them. What's to say that your fleet will fare any better?" John asked. If there was one thing he had learned during his time in the Uncharted Territories, it was that violence very rarely solved anything, at least not without serious, often unforeseen consequences.

"Superiority in numbers can overwhelm their defenses, secure our escape," Crais said confidently.

"Aren't you the least bit curious as to what they want? They said they didn't want to harm Moya," John said. If they had been attacked, he would have felt differently about using force, but not everyone always needed to be destroyed.

Aeryn added, "But they didn't say anything about Talyn. And they have shown they are willing to fire upon him. Are Talyn's sensors registering anything?"

"Very little." Crais closed his eyes to more effectively use Talyn's sensors as an extension of his senses. "Their weapons appear to be powered up, but they are making no further aggressive moves at the moment." His eyes snapped open. "Talyn has lost communications with Moya!"

"What now?"

Crais ignored John. "Alien vessel, why have you severed communications between Moya and Talyn?"

John realized that Crais must be using the link to activate Talyn's communications system through his comms badge. "What do they say?" he asked after several microts.

Crais scowled. "I am getting no response." Suddenly he turned and began running toward the hangar.

John followed, sprinting to catch up. "Crais? What the frell are you doing?"

"I have lost communications with Talyn. I'm returning to my ship." He tried to activate the door controls to the hangar, but to no avail.

"Don't shoot it!" John shouted as Crais pulled out his pulse pistol. "If you break it, we may never get out of here."

Aeryn rounded the corner, disappointed to see them standing outside the hangar.

Crais spun to face John. "Do you honestly believe that they intend to let us leave?"

"He has a point. They have severed communications with both ships and secured the door to the hangar so that we can't get to our transport," Aeryn said. She looked nervously down at D'Argo. "It doesn't look promising."

"Well then, what do they want?" John asked. He had no interest in spending the rest of his life on the station, but he realized that might become reality.

"We could try breaking into their computer," Aeryn offered. "At the very least it would give us something to do. And it might give us more information about them, maybe even control of the hangar so that we can leave."

That sounded like a better idea than Crais's to take an unarmed transport pod against armed ships. "That's better than nothing. And it might actually be useful."

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Two arms later, they still hadn't learned anything. The station's computer seemed to be devoid of information. John had a puzzled look as he stared at the system.

"Does this seem familiar to either of you?" he asked.

"In what way?" asked Aeryn.

"I don't know. It seems… almost… Leviathan." He realized it sounded far-fetched, but the more he mulled it over in his mind, the more he believed it.

Crais arched an eyebrow skeptically. "Leviathan?"

"I've had a familiar feeling ever since we stepped onboard. There was something about the way the station sounded, the way it smelled. It reminds me an awful lot of Moya."

"Now that you mention it, it does," said Aeryn.

Crais furrowed his brow. "I have not spent that much time on Leviathans. Talyn is distinctly different from your average Leviathan."

"So what does this mean?" Aeryn asked.

John rubbed his lower lip with his thumb, momentarily lost in thought. "I'm not sure. What if the beings who've captured us are the same ones who created Leviathans?"

"The Builders? But Zhaan told us they exonerated Moya, that they didn't hold her to blame for giving birth to Talyn." Aeryn held D'Argo protectively.

"But what about Crais? He's the one that created Talyn." John knew that the Builders had not been happy to hear their 'children' had been corrupted with weaponry and were to be trained in battle. What if they wanted to destroy Talyn? And if they did, would they change their mind about Moya's reprieve too?

"If they wanted to destroy me, don't you think they would have insisted I stay on Talyn? And Talyn has preservation programming that Leviathans do not have. He would not believe these Builders are his gods," Crais said confidently.

John did not share Crais's optimism. "Oh, no? Then why did he stop talking to you? You know he has a lot of respect for Moya, and we know that she shut herself down and was willing to die because the Builders told her to. What's to say she won't convince Talyn to do the same?"

"Because I know Talyn!" Crais shouted.

"Look, just because you shared engrams with him doesn't mean that you know everything about him. You admitted that he changed after he was shut down." It was a subject they hadn't broached yet, but Crais had said that stabilizing Talyn's personality would fundamentally change who the gunship was.

Some of the confidence was gone from Crais's voice. "Yes, he changed, but his old memories are still there. And having spent time with him since then, I believe I am qualified to say that I _do_ know him."

"I think I've found the controls to open the hangar doors," Aeryn announced.

Crais ordered, "Excellent. Open them, and I'm going over to Talyn."

"You aren't going alone," said John. The last thing he needed was an overly emotional Crais trying to deal with the Builders. While John wasn't always calm, he was definitely more diplomatic than Crais. And less emotionally invested, if he was right.

"We'll all go," added Aeryn.

He turned to face her. "No. I want you and D to stay here. It'll be safer. We have no idea what we are gong to find on Talyn. Besides, someone needs to stay here to operate the controls." The last thing he wanted was something to happen to either of them. He didn't think he could live with himself if that happened.

"Then you stay here and I'll go. I know Talyn better than you."

He placed his hand on her cheek and said softly. "D really needs you. I plan on being careful, but we don't know what we are going to find there. Please, stay here with him." He knew how much she hated being left out of the action, but it was necessary.

Aeryn didn't look pleased, but she agreed to stay.

Once John and Crais were in the pod, Aeryn manually cycled the doors. When they landed in Talyn's hangar, they found that the atmospheric cycler was not operating, and they had to don space suits and go through the manual air lock.

"I don't like the looks of this, Crais. Have you gotten anything from Talyn?"

"Nothing yet." Once they were through the airlock, he checked his scanner. "We have atmosphere, but I think it would be an excellent precaution to carry our helmets in case that changes."

"No arguments there. So, where to?"

"We should go to command where I can use the main sensor panels to ascertain Talyn's status and ascertain if there are any intruders."

"You are the intruders here," said a voice behind them.

Both men spun around and leveled their pulse pistols at the source of the voice.

"Who are you?" demanded Crais.

"I am Kahaynu."

&&&&&&&&&&&&

**A/N:** Once again, many thanks to nota, my loyal beta reader. Also, thanks to those who have taken the time to review. They really are important to me and feed the muses.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Talyn didn't like the idea of Crais leaving. Crais had reassured him that they would be able to maintain contact through the link, but if he was going to do battle, he preferred having his captain onboard.

A being materialized in command, and Talyn dropped his guns.

"Do not be afraid. I am not here to harm you."

You are Kahaynu, aren't you? Talyn knew of this being. This was the one who had asked his mother to kill herself. Instinctively, he was on guard.

"It is good that you know of me. Now, put away your weapons."

No! You tried to hurt my mother, tried to make her kill herself.

"You have misunderstood us. We do not harm our children."

Talyn knew better than to trust this being. He and Crais had discussed Moya's encounter with the Builders, and Talyn had shared that distrust in them with his captain. I _understand_ everything. I heard the story from her personally. You told her she was not worthy because she bore me. Now, you are here for me. I _will not_ capitulate to you. You will leave and let us go.

"And if I don't? What will you do? You cannot harm me. I do not exist in this solid plane as do the other beings you know."

Ignoring what he had just been told, Talyn fired his guns, only to have the pulse blasts pass straight through Kahaynu. Even after the blasts failed, he did not rein in his temper. LEAVE!

"I cannot leave. We have brought you here to judge you."

Then why is Moya here? You _forgave_ her. He was upset by the fact that his mother was here as well.

"She must be here. To make her own decision once we have decided what is to become of you."

Talyn did not like the tone in Kahaynu's voice. He had the distinct impression that he had already been judged, and that the verdict had not been favorable. Then you will have to kill me. I will not willingly end my life.

Kahaynu shook his head. "The warrior's spirit. That is something we never wanted in our children. Leviathans were to be gentle giants, created to serve. And that is not what you are."

Glad that he had discussed this topic with Crais, Talyn said, And were Leviathans to remain stagnant? All living things evolve. I am the future.

"You are unnatural," countered the Builder. "Evolution happens over eons, not instantly in one generation!"

You created Leviathans to serve. That is what I do. I just do it differently. How was it less wrong for your race to create Leviathans than it was for Sebaceans to modify us? He was quite pleased by the silence that greeted this logic.

"There is a difference between the peaceful purposes of the Leviathans and the warlike purposes you were created for."

I _was_ created for peaceful purposes. Not everyone in the universe is nice. My purpose is to protect those I serve and to help maintain the peace. Talyn was not going to lose this argument. And he thought that he might actually be making headway. It was taking Kahaynu a long time to reply to him.

Suddenly, Kahaynu disappeared, and Talyn found that his senses had been dulled. Not just his external sensors, but his internal ones as well. He did not like this development. He could still hear, and he heard Kahaynu talking with someone. Crais and the human were back onboard. That made Talyn feel better. If anyone could solve this dilemma, it would be Crais. He shifted his attention to where his captain was, trying to learn as much as he could.

"Get off of my ship," Crais growled.

"One cannot own a living thing, Peacekeeper, despite what your race likes to believe," retorted Kahaynu.

"I have a symbiotic relationship with Talyn. We are a part of each other. You cannot just sever that link. It is the same as depriving a Leviathan of its Pilot."

"Except that neither of you will die. Your species can survive separated from the Leviathan."

"As fascinating as this is, what is it you want, Kahaynu?" interjected John.

"This… gunship is an abomination. We cannot allow this twisting of our creation to continue to exist."

Talyn was furious. He had been correct. They _had_ already judged him. Perhaps if he caught Kahaynu off guard, he could destroy the creature. Of course, he couldn't leave without Aeryn and her young one, but with Kahaynu gone, Crais could see to their safe return.

Trying to lower at least one of his guns, he found that all control was now gone. Whatever this Builder had done to him, he was impotent. He screamed out, frustrated at only being able to listen as they debated his fate.

"I will not let you destroy Talyn!" Crais declared as he fired his pulse pistol harmlessly at Kahaynu.

"Crais, take a deep breath and count to ten," John said before turning his attention back to the Builder. "You mean that you are going to kill Talyn just like that? You are going to _murder_ him? Because let me tell you something, this boy is _not_ going to listen to you like his mother did."

Talyn could hardly believe what he was hearing. He had not expected the human to defend him. After all, he had once tried his best to kill John.

"As changed as he is, he is still our child, and our children obey us."

John gave a hearty laugh. "Oh, that's priceless. That may work fine with your average Mark one, Mod zero Leviathan, but Talyn has a stubborn streak a mile wide. And what about Moya? Why is she here? Why were you looking for her? Zhaan and Pilot told us that you don't hold her responsible. Heck, unless the Peacekeeper experiment were repeated, she wouldn't be making any more baby gunships anyway."

Crais clenched his jaw and spoke through gritted teeth. "What right do you have to decide if Talyn lives? He is a sentient being. And it is not his fault that he is what he is."

Kahaynu furrowed his brow at Crais. "No. It is _your_ fault. You created this abomination."

"And what if I did? Imagine what a fleet of gunships could do to maintain the peace, to protect other Leviathans from torturous enslavement and abuse. Lifeforms evolve; I only accelerated the process."

"Leviathans would never have developed weapons without your intervention," interjected Kahaynu.

Crais chuckled slyly. "So what are you going to do? Kill me? I would not recommend it. I'm sure there is some way that you can be hurt, and I guarantee you that Talyn will spend the rest of his days trying to determine just what that is. Are you prepared to invoke his wrath?"

"We have him under control. I'm sure that you have noticed that," the Builder replied smugly.

"But for how much longer? As you have said, he is not like other Leviathans. Parts of his systems are foreign to you."

John stepped between the two. "I think tensions are high enough. We don't need the two of you declaring war on each other. Kahaynu, why can't the gunship exist? He's not hurting your children. Yes, he attacked Moya once a long time ago, but he had been seriously damaged and was not himself. Give me one good reason, other than the fact you did not design Leviathans to have weapons."

There was a long silence, and Talyn found himself admiring the human's logic. It was at times like this he could see why Aeryn had chosen the human.

Before the Builder could answer, he disappeared. Talyn tried to reach out with his sensors, but found them still blocked. Crais and John rushed up to command, presumably to see what sort of control they could gain. Talyn focused his energy on trying to communicate with Crais.

He watched as the two men worked the controls and power settings. Crais was rerouting commands through life support systems. Finally, Talyn could feel his presence again. Bialar, can you hear me?

"Yes, Talyn. Do you have sensor capability back?"

Very limited, mostly interior. I cannot even sense Moya. He isn't going to kill me, is he?

"I have no idea."

Before they could converse further, a rather irate Kahaynu rematerialized. "There is a fleet of ships threatening attack."

The blood drained from John's face. "Crais, the only structure around here is that base with Aeryn and D'Argo on it."

"Go retrieve them. There is nothing you can do here to help."

Talyn was relieved to hear this. He could not bear the thought of anything happening to Aeryn. I will try to move closer to the base, he told Crais.

"You shall not do that!" insisted Kahaynu.

"Or what? You'll kill us? You preach peace and respect for life, and yet you would kill a mother and her child? Oh, wait, that's _exactly_ what you are talking about." John rushed out of command without waiting for a reply.

"What now, Builder? Are you prepared to kill thousands? One or two lives may not matter, but thousands? That's something different, isn't it?"

Kahaynu looked confused, as though he were wrestling with a serious internal conflict. "What do you intend to do with the gunship?"

"As you said, I am a Peacekeeper, but not one of the twisted ones who in recent times have dominated Sebacean culture. We are returning to our roots, protecting those who cannot protect themselves. I have made that my mission."

"And will you make more gunships?"

"That is no longer my intent. I regret my actions of the past, the loss of life in my pursuit of that project. If there were ever to be more, then Leviathans would have to agree of their own free will to bear them."

"Does he speak the truth?" Kahaynu asked Talyn.

Of course he does, defended the gunship. We have both grown in our time together and neither of us are what we used to be. I will never harm my kind. And I may have been created as a weapon to use against the Scarrans, but that is not my sole purpose in life.

Crais heard the response. "What is your decision?" Suddenly Talyn lurched as he regained a small measure of control over his propulsion systems. "As you can see, your hold over him is failing even as we speak. He is not truly one of your children. Do you really have the right to exert your authority over him? Over any of them? All children grow up and leave their parents."

Without answering, the Builder disappeared again.

"Talyn, we need to concentrate on restoring communications. I do not want the fleet to attack right now. I believe we are making progress."

&&&&&&&&&&&&&

**A/N:** Many thanks again to nota for being my loyal beta reader. She always gives it that little tweak that my frantic mind cannot always see.

Note on the Mark one, Mod zero, that is a military term we use to describe the baseline of anything, as in the piece of equipment as it was first released. As changes are made, the designation changes depending on the degree of the change. Normally, in the Navy, we use it to describe the unaided eye (Mark 1, Mod 0 eyeball), usually when berating a lookout for missing a contact that anyone looking out the window can see without binoculars. I figured that since John is Navy, he would have had to hear that, even as a Navy scientist because they do interact with others that get out more. :)


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

Aeryn knew that something was wrong. First, there was Crais losing contact with Talyn, and now, there was the fact that they had not commed her. She had tried contacting both them and Moya to no avail. Her attempts to boost the power of the transmitter had not worked and she was trying to determine what she should do next, but was finding it increasingly difficult to concentrate with D'Argo growing increasingly fussy. Closing her eyes, she took a few deep breaths, trying to calm down as John had taught her, and shut out the screaming infant. There was little that she could do for him right now. She wondered if she would be able to boost the signal from her comms badge to contact John and went to work on that task.

She did not like feeling defenseless, and that was definitely how she felt now. True, she had a pulse pistol, but she didn't expect it to do her much good. She had no way off the station; John and Crais had taken the only transport pod. The station's limited sensors were not really telling her anything useful. She felt blind, trapped, and helpless just when every instinct, every nerve ending was crying out to her that she had to protect her son.

Staying in the command area, she kept trying to communicate with anyone while keeping D'Argo quiet, which was not easy. He was growing frustrated with being ignored, but there was little she could do at the moment.

Her thoughts started straying to her time with the renegades. A part of her did not like the idea of John and Crais being alone with each other She knew that John, this John, would probably never fully trust Crais, no matter what he did or said. And she knew that John felt she was hiding something from him. The truth was, she was hiding a great many things from John, but she knew that she did not know everything about his life either, and did not feel there was a problem with her behavior. After all, she had still been grieving the loss of the other John when she had left Moya.

But she did know enough about this John to know that he would never understand her behavior during her time away from Moya. He still did not grasp the concept of, the _need_ for, Peacekeeper recreation. Or maybe he just couldn't understand the reality of the demands that Peacekeeper life made on those who accepted, never mind embraced it. The less she said about her relationship with Crais, the better. They had been friends and confidants, nothing more. She would never have the type of relationship she had with John with anyone else. That was part of what had driven her away She had needed time to sort out her emotional turmoil.

There had been no emotional attachment between the two of them; it had been purely recreation, a way of reducing stress levels. For both her and Crais, as she had been the initiator. And that was something that John would just not understand. For that reason, she would never tell him.

Truthfully, it had been the lack of emotional attachment that had led her to seek out Moya again after the debacle on Hokathia, rather than return to Talyn. She had finally been ready to accept John. For that reason, she wanted to leave the past buried. Nothing would be gained by bringing it to the surface.

Seeing something on the sensors, she tried to interpret the information. There appeared to be a number of contacts approaching. Unfortunately, she could not tell what they were.

"_Aeryn, this is John. Can you hear me?"_

"Yes, John. What's happening?"

"_Long story. Meet me at the docking bay."_

From the sense of urgency in he\is voice, she knew this was no time for conversation and hurried to the docking bay with D'Argo. Once the light turned green, she cycled the airlock and ran toward the pod. John was already lifting off before they were settled inside.

"What's going on?" she asked, hoping to learn something about the current situation.

"Seems Crais' fleet has found us, and if the shooting starts, that station wasn't a very safe place to be."

"Did you find out who has been holding us hostage?" she asked, hoping to get more information, but realizing how stressed John was at the moment and finding it unlikely.

"The Builders," he replied, but his attention was mostly on piloting the pod back to Talyn.

She decided to wait and see what further information she could glean once they were back onboard Talyn. Upon landing, John rushed to Command, leaving her to follow with their son.

"Did you get in touch with them?" John shouted to Crais as the doors opened.

"Not as of yet, though we are making progress," Crais replied over the cries of an increasingly fussy D'Argo.

Aeryn took the screaming child and handed him to John. "Here, take D'Argo. I'm going to help Crais with comms."

"Now hold on…" John started to protest.

"You've made it clear we don't have time to argue. So please don't. I know far more about Talyn's systems that you do and have a much better chance of being able to help restore communications. Take him to the center chamber and see if you can get him to calm down."

"She is correct, Crichton. And it will be far easier for us to work without the added distraction of your son's cries."

John appeared as though he planned to continue the argument, but the look Aeryn gave him ended all further discussion, and he took D'Argo out of command.

"I have restored internal comms, so if you could go to the hammond sensor cluster, I believe we can reroute communications through there."

"I'm on it," she said and ran out of Command. Working together with their intimate knowledge of Talyn's systems, they soon had external communications restored too, at least temporarily. Aeryn then hurried back up to Command.

When the doors opened, Crais said, "They are holding fire… for now. I have led them to believe I have more control over the situation than I actually do. Meanwhile, I could use your assistance in rerouting more of Talyn's systems."

"Of course. But what about Moya?"

"I fear we won't be able to help her. Talyn's systems are different enough from hers that we have been able to reestablish only the smallest measure of control. I do not know how long even that will last. I believe the Builders are currently concerning themselves with what to do about the arrival of the fleet. They have already demonstrated that they do have powerful weapons, and if their ship should return, the fleet will fire upon it. The Builders should know of our intentions, assuming they are eavesdropping on my communications. They still have not responded to any attempts to reestablish contact with them."

"What did they want?"

"They claim to be judging Talyn and determining if he should be allowed to continue to exist. I did not learn much more than that before the fleet arrived. Obviously, Talyn will not capitulate to their demands. Our concern is now with Moya, who has already proven that she _will_ do as they ask. Neither of us wants to see anything happen to her. I have tried to explain to them that I have no intention of resurrecting the gunship project."

Aeryn didn't know what to think about this development. "Do you think you can convince them?"

"I'm no longer sure that will be necessary. I do not know that they have any ability to effectively defend themselves against the fleet that has come to our aid. Now, I would like to gain some more control over propulsion and hopefully the weaponry."

Aeryn had momentarily been distracted from their plan to restore Talyn's systems. "Right." They spent the next quarter arn helping Talyn and the DRDs reroute systems through life support.

When they were finally done, she said, "Before we have John come back, I need to know: how much have the two of you talked? About the past?"

"Not at all. I have told him all that I will about our time together. Any further information you choose to disclose is a choice that you will have to make."

"Thank you," she replied simply. That was definitely one conversation she did not want to have with John.

"There is nothing to thank me for. There is no reason he needs to know. I have learned that there are many things about Peacekeeper culture that he does not understand. I believe that would be one of them."

"And you would be correct. You are a good friend, Bialar." She reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder.

He smiled weakly. "I try my best. Friendship is not something that has come easily to me. And I long ago realized that you and I would never be anything more than friends."

After a moment of silence, she activated the internal comms. "John, everything is all sorted out here. The two of you can come up now."

"It's about damned time. I'm on my way." It didn't take long before he arrived in command. "So, what's the scoop?"

"The Builders are refusing to communicate with us. Nor have they contacted the fleet," replied Crais.

"So what do we do now?"

"We wait," said Crais simply.

"Wait?" asked John incredulously.

"We don't have a choice. While we have made adequate repairs to Talyn's systems, Moya is still vulnerable, and we will not leave her behind," added Aeryn.

"And your fleet?"

"They are awaiting my orders now."

"And what are those orders going to be?" John asked suspiciously.

"It will depend on the situation. Right now, I am waiting to see what the Builders' next move is going to be. I hope they will see reason and release us. In that case, there will be no further action necessary."

"Just like that?"

Aeryn could understand John's agitation, but it was not normally like him to be this hostile. "John, they haven't actually done any harm to us. If they choose to let us go, there is no reason we should do anything to them. We don't even know if we could do anything to them." There were times like this when she realized how much both of them had changed since their first meeting. Then, she would have been the one advocating a policy of shoot first and ask questions later.

"All right then, how long do we give them?"

Aeryn and Crais looked at each other before she replied. "Not too much longer. They have already had more than half an arn."


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

Talyn shook as a blast hit the station.

"Crais, I thought you said they were going to wait?" asked John.

Crais had. But he also knew that Captain Tennan was not a very patient man. Deep down, he could not even pretend to be surprised. The lack of communication by the Builders was sure to stretch even a prudent man's patience to the breaking point, and this was not the first time that he had found his second in command lamentably lacking in both qualities. Now he watched in horror as Moya moved between the Peacekeeper fleet and the station.

"Tennan, cease fire!" he ordered. Not only could he feel Talyn's emotional turmoil, but he knew that allowing harm to come to a Leviathan would not improve his case with the Builders.

"_Captain, we register that Talyn is immobile. Since your adversary is not communicating, I thought this was the most prudent way to get their attention._"

Crais gritted his teeth. "I know that you have had difficulties following orders in the past, but if you continue having these difficulties, I will be forced to remove you from command."

"_Yes, sir,_" Tennan replied nervously. "_What is our strategy, Captain?_"

Crais did not care for the man's tone of voice. "For now, we wait for them to resume contact with me. If you lose communications with Talyn, then you may open fire on the station, but not until then unless I order otherwise." He was almost positive the Builders were listening to this conversation, and he hoped that the threat of more violence would encourage them to resume negotiations.

"So what now, Crais?" John asked.

"What choice do we have? We have to wait for them to resume contact." Crais didn't like it, but he knew it was the truth. He saw no other rational course of action.

Crais watched as Crichton paced nervously. He wanted nothing more than to tell the human to stop, but the tension level was high enough already. Instead, he forced himself to concentrate on Talyn's systems, helping the gunship reroute more systems to regain as much control as possible. What he really wanted was to regain contact with Moya. He knew that would do much to alleviate Talyn's distress.

Half an arn dragged by and still none of the Builders had contacted them. At least Crais and Talyn had almost restored propulsion, a move that Crais hoped would finally get them the attention they needed.

"How long are we going to sit here waiting?" asked John impatiently.

"John," warned Aeryn.

"I'm serious. We've been sitting here doing nothing. Hasn't this Mexican standoff gone on long enough?"

"And what would you suggest?" asked Crais. "Talyn has no propulsion, and I presume you are against damaging Moya, or any show of violence, for that matter." Talyn's mother had moved quite close to the station and was sure to be damaged if it was destroyed.

"Sometimes you have to do what you have to do whether you like it or not. We need to do something to get their attention, force their hand."

"We are about to do just that," replied Crais with a confident grin as he instructed Talyn to power up his main propulsion lines, and move to nudge Moya away from the station.

"What the frell, Crais?" asked John.

"Unlike you, I have been using my time productively. Talyn's propulsion systems have been rerouted and protections placed to keep the Builders from disabling him again."

It was not long after Talyn began moving toward Moya that Kahaynu returned. "What is the meaning of this? What have you done to our child?"

Crais replied self-assuredly. "Talyn is not your child… and neither is Moya. And _we_ are leaving.

"You cannot do that. We have not yet passed judgment."

"And you won't. Talyn is not yours to be judged. And neither is Moya. You judged her once and let her go. It is too late to change your mind now."

"You would imprison Moya to take her from here?" Kahaynu sounded aghast.

"That's nothing more than what you are doing to her, or what you did to Talyn," added John. "You imprisoned them both as soon as they arrived here, disabling their propulsion systems. As much as I hate to say it, I'm siding with Crais this time round."

"This-this—" Kahaynu stammered.

"You and your kind may have created the Leviathans, but you also set them free," Aeryn said. She gave D'Argo a quick glance before continuing. "Parents bring their children into the universe, care for and nurture them, teach them as best they can. But the day comes when all children have to be let go by their parents to make their own way into the universe. Once that happens, you can only watch them; you can no longer control them. Your Leviathans have grown up. You have to let them go."

Kahaynu looked torn, as though he were seriously considering Aeryn's words, even as he realized how much they went against the methodology of the Builders. Abruptly, he vanished again.

"Well, what did that mean?" asked John.

"I have no idea," replied Crais. "Quite eloquent, Aeryn. I believe that your words were definitely more effective than mine."

"I only hope they will be enough," she said wistfully.

"It will not matter. Now that Talyn has regained control, we can depart… and take Moya with us. I believe that once she is outside of their direct influence, she will regain control of her own systems. While those creatures may seem to be omnipotent beings, they are not," Crais said. He was not entirely sure of his words, but he wanted the others to believe them.

"Could have fooled me," muttered John.

Crais bit back the retort he wanted to give. "The fact that Talyn has regained control of most systems should be proof of that. It will not be long before he has full control of his weapons. I believe that Kahaynu knows this and that explains his nervous response."

"Doesn't hurt that you have a battle fleet knocking on his door either. What do you suppose that station is to them?"

"I have no idea, but the fact that Moya moved to protect it shows that it must be important. That may be just the leverage we need. After all, we are moving Moya away from it so that it will once again be vulnerable." Crais wasn't sure just how much of a threat his fleet actually would provide. After all, this was the race of beings which had created the Leviathans in the first place, though that did not necessarily mean they were invulnerable to Peacekeeper weapons.

It was not long before Kahaynu returned. He quickly glanced at them all before he fixed his attention on Crais. "You are responsible for this… rebel. You have sullied what was pure and good about Leviathans by arming this one… by giving him an aggressive personality."

Crais glared defiantly at the Builder. "Talyn does not have an aggressive personality." _At least not anymore._ "Yes, he is armed, but he only uses his weaponry when it is necessary for the greater good or to defend those whom he loves." Crais has already warned Kahaynu once that Talyn would react poorly to the Builders trying to harm Crais, but he thought the reminder would not go amiss.

Kahaynu scowled. "We do not approve of what Talyn is, but we now realize that we have no control over him, that he is not one of our true children."

There was an uncomfortable silence, broken only by the fussing of the baby.

"You are correct that children must grow up and that the Leviathans have done just that. They have thrived as we hoped without our intervention. That Talyn exists… is most unfortunate, but we will not end his life. It is not our way.

"You are the one who is responsible for his creation, and you have said you do not intend to create more like him."

Crais realized the less said, the better. "I have."

"If you intend to keep that promise, we will release you, but we will be watching you." With that, Kahaynu vanished abruptly.

After a moment, John said, "That's it? Kind of anti-climactic, isn't it?"

Crais asked, "Would you have preferred a full-fledged battle? One that we would have no guarantee of winning? After all, the Builders are creatures who appear to have more than one plane of existence."

"No. I just didn't expect them to roll over like that."

"I think they were considering letting us go even before Crais's fleet arrived," Aeryn said. "They just needed time to come to terms with their decision."

"I guess you're right."

Crais commed the ships. "Captain Tennan, we will be departing from this sector immediately. You are to return to your previous patrol route."

"_Understood, Captain. Will you be joining us?"_

"Not at the moment. Talyn and I will remain in periodic contact and inform you when we plan to return."

"Yes, sir. Safe journey, Captain."

"Safe journey to you as well."

"So, you're not going with them? You're sticking around with us?" John asked, clearly disappointed that Crais would not be leaving with his fleet.

"Talyn wishes to visit with his mother, and he also has to recover from the shutdown. Either the Builders could not or chose not to repair the damage they caused." Crais was pleased that Moya seemed to have returned to normal and that she was conversing with Talyn subsonically.

"And you?"

"I will remain with Talyn, overseeing his recovery." He knew that Crichton did not really care for him and that the less time he spent aboard Moya, the less time he spent with Aeryn, the less likely Crichton was to make further inquiries into what had happened when he and Aeryn were last together.

"That's probably a good idea," John said, though there was no malice in his voice.

Aeryn looked down at D'Argo. "John, I need to get back to Moya for more supplies. Are you coming?"

"I'll be over in a little bit. I still have a few questions."

Aeryn tried not to look nervous as she glanced at Crais, who had long ago perfected the emotionless stare. "Don't be too long," she said before departing.

Once they were alone, Crais asked, "What sort of questions do you have?"

"Aeryn was different when she came back."

"We all change from the experiences of our lives."

"Yeah, but this was different, even for her. She wouldn't tell me what happened. I found out she was part of some assassination squad, but that's about it. I have the feeling that even with what the two of you have told me, that you're leaving something out."

"Does she know your entire life history?" Crais asked a bit more defensively than he had planned.

&&&&&&&&&&&&

_Aeryn was in his bed, but he knew that it was only her body. Her soul was still with another man, a ghost, even though she tried to hide it. He knew that she was only reverting to her Peacekeeper training. Shortly after her transfer to Talyn, she had sought him out. They never spoke of the past and rarely discussed anything beyond the immediate future._

_A part of him felt guilty, that he was only taking advantage of her when she was so vulnerable, but he rationalized his behavior by saying this was what she wanted, she had been the one to come to him. He pushed from her mind her previous statement that if she closed her eyes hard enough, she could pretend he was John._

_One day she was lying in his arms and he was enjoying the feeling of her warm body pressed against his flesh. Her hand was deceptively soft as it ran across his chest._

"_Bialar?"_

_He really didn't want to have a conversation at this moment when his mind was clouded. "Yes?"_

"_I've been thinking… I'd really like to do something more than fly Prowlers or combat pods."_

_This was not entirely unexpected. He had been trying to encourage her to take on a role of greater leadership for some time now. "Such as?" he asked as he pulled her closer._

"_I'd like to be part of a commando unit."_

_He was momentarily stunned into silence, and he propped himself up on one arm to look into her eyes. "Are you serious?"_

"_I want to do something meaningful. What I'm doing now… It's not satisfying."_

"_There are many other things that you can do, positions you might find more meaningful…"_

_She interrupted him with a deep kiss. "Please?"_

_She had asked him at his most vulnerable, and her behavior was not helping him think any more clearly. His mind could come up with no rational reason to deny her request other than the fact that it was dangerous. To deny her for that reason alone would justifiably upset her. "I'll see to it."_

_She pushed him back down onto the bed and straddled him. "Thank you."_

His last coherent thought was that for that sort of 'thank you', he would grant her anything she wanted.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

"No, but I think I need to know about something that could change her life so dramatically."

"You already know what happened before her difficulties with the Hokathian assassination plot, and I was not there to know what happened after that."

"Do I? Do I know everything?"

"I do not have the time to recount to you everything that happened in over half a cycle. You have heard the most important parts already. Unless you desire to know every detail of Talyn's recovery from starburst," Crais replied tersely. After a few microts of silence, he added, "What do you have to worry about? She chose you."

Crichton eyed him suspiciously. "Point taken. So, you are going to be staying on Talyn?"

"For the most part. There is still some work to be done with the environmental systems and I will have to spend some time on Moya, but she is large enough that I should be able to stay out of your way."

"Good." Without saying another word, Crichton left to return to Moya.

_Do you think he suspects what really happened?_ Talyn asked.

"He knows that I am keeping her secret, but he does not know what it is. Since he has never really trusted me anyway, I do not expect this to change. I do not think he will ask about it again, though. Now, let me begin reactivating the DRDs." Crais hoped that it would be a task that the DRDs themselves could eventually be able to assist with, but he was not inclined to be overly optimistic about that.

He and Talyn would spend a few days with Moya, and then they would return to the renegades… at least that was his plan for now.

The End

&&&&&&&&&&&

**A/N:** Many thanks to those who stuck with this story throughout it's sporadic updates. RL can be a real kick in the pants sometimes. I hope that you found it enjoyable to read as I did to write it.

Also, thanks to nota for her help as my beta reader. She had proven to be a fantastic sounding board and someone who can find just the right word for me when I'm unable to find it.

I do plan to keep writing, but I don't know how often I will be posting updates due to RL contstraints.


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